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The number of voters in Maharashtra has gone up by over 65 lakh in the last five years, according to official figures.

From 8,07,98,823 voters in the state at the time of 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the number has now gone up to 8,73,30,484, as per the electoral office data.

This is a sharp rise of 65,31,661 voters.

Of these increased 65,31,661 voters, 35,98,905 are women, 29,31,588 men and the rest are transgenders.

"It is a good sign that transgenders are opening up and registering themselves as voters. It is a positive response to efforts of the Election Commission of India," state electoral officer Ashwani Kumar said on Sunday.

Besides, there are 25,13,657 and 17,32,146 first time male and female voters, respectively.

There are also 142 first time transgenders in the age group of 18 to 22 years, as per the data.

Lok Sabha polls will be held in four phases in Maharashtra starting from the Vidarbha region on April 11.

Maharashtra sends the second highest number of 48 MPs to the Lok Sabha after Uttar Pradesh, which has total 80 constituencies.

The schedule for seven-phase Lok Sabha elections in the country, beginning April 11, was announced by the Election Commission in Delhi on Sunday evening.

The counting of votes will be taken up on May 23.

A byelection to Katol assembly constituency in Nagpur district will be held along with the Lok Sabha polls.

The bypoll became necessary following BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh's resignation in October last year.

Deshmukh, the son of former Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ranjeet Deshmukh, had quit citing differences with the state BJP leadership.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)